Rebels exit city in Congo, leaving trail of concern

New York Times

Updated 11:30 pm, Saturday, December 1, 2012

Photo: PHIL MOORE, AFP/Getty Images

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A crowd cheers as Congolese National Police-officers march into the central bank in the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 1, 2012. Hundreds of Congolese M23 rebels began a withdrawal on December 1 from Goma as promised under a regionally brokered deal, after a 12-day occupation of the city. Around 300 rebels, army mutineers who seized Goma last week in a lightning advance, were seen by an AFP reporter driving in a convoy of looted trucks north out the main town in Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich east. AFP PHOTO/PHIL MOOREPHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images

A crowd cheers as Congolese National Police-officers march into the central bank in the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 1, 2012. Hundreds of Congolese M23 rebels

NAIROBI, Kenya — The rebel group that recently captured Goma, a strategic city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, pulled out hundreds of troops Saturday, but Goma was still waiting to exhale.

Residents packed the streets to watch the rebels chug out of town in big trucks, with rebel soldiers belting out victory songs as they left.

“We saw combat, and the enemy ran away,” the rebels cheered.

Another verse: “We're leaving, but we'll be back soon.”

The rebels, called the M23, were under intense international pressure to leave Goma after inflicting a humiliating defeat on Congolese forces and setting off a national crisis with anti-government protests erupting across Congo. As much as Goma was a coveted prize — it is the capital of North Kivu province and one of Congo's most vital trade hubs — many rebel leaders said that holding the city and trying to administer it would have been too much trouble.

On Saturday afternoon, United Nations officials in Goma confirmed that the rebels were finally leaving.

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“It's happening,” said Hiroute Guebre Sellassie, who heads the U.N. peacekeeping office in North Kivu province. “By the close of business, it should be done.”

Still, many of Goma's residents were frightened about what lies ahead. Lawlessness has been increasing in the past week, with home invasions, carjackings and killings on the rise.

“Some people are worried that the army might be even worse than the M23 and that when the army returns they will start stealing,” said one Goma resident who did not want to be identified because of the risk of reprisals.

“Others,” the resident added, “said: ‘Let's welcome the army. They may be thieves, but at least they are our thieves!'”

Goma's residents, like people in many other parts of Congo, have been trapped for years between marauding rebel groups that rape, pillage and kill with complete impunity and a dysfunctional government army that often does the same.

Under a peace plan brokered by Congo's neighbors, the M23 rebels are supposed to withdraw all their troops from Goma except for one company that will be allowed to stay at the airport along with government troops. A “neutral force” composed of soldiers from other African countries will also help keep the peace in Goma, a sprawling city of several hundred thousand people — maybe a million, no one really knows — spread out in the shadow of a smoking volcano.

On Saturday, Goma residents said they saw Ugandan and Tanzanian military officers in the city, possibly the vanguard of the neutral force.

The M23 group is widely believed to be backed by Rwanda, and a U.N. document leaked to the New York Times on Friday said that Rwandan troops had actually helped capture Goma.